A Slavish Monk

Χαίρει Ἰουδαῖος Σαββάτῳ καὶ ἑορτῇ· μοναχὸς γαστρίμαργος Σαββάτῳ καὶ Κυριακῇ· πρὸ χρόνου τὸ Πάσχα ψηφίζει, καὶ πρὸ ἡμερῶν τὰ ἐδέσματα εὐτρεπίζει. Ψηφίζει κοιλιόδουλος ἐν ποίοις βρώμασιν ἑορτάσει· ὁ δὲ θεόδουλος ἐν ποίοις χαρίσμασιν πλουτήσει. Ξένου ἐπιδημήσαντος εἰς ἀγάπην ὅλος ἐκ γαστριμαργίας κινεῖται· καὶ παράκλησιν ἀδελφοῦ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κατάλυσιν λογίζεται· ἐπὶ παρουσίᾳ τινῶν τοῦ οἴνου καταλύειν ἐσκέψατο· καὶ ἀρετὴν δοκῶν κρύπτειν, πάθους δοῦλος ἐγένετο. Ἐχθραίνει πολλάκις κενοδοξία τῇ γαστριμαργίᾳ, καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ ὀνησίμῳ δούλῳ τῷ ἀθλίῳ μοναχῷ διαμάχονται· ἡ μὲν καταλύειν βιάζεται, ἡ δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀρετὴν θριαμβεύειν ὑποτίθεται· σοφὸς μοναχὸς ἀμφοτέρων ἐκφεύξεται, ἐν οἰκείῳ καιρῷ τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τὴν ἑτέραν ἀποσειόμενος. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος, Λόγος ΙΔ', ἡ Κλίμαξ Source: Migne PG 88.864d-865a

The Jew rejoices on Sabbaths and feast days; the monk who is a glutton on Saturdays and Sundays. He reckons up the days until Easter, and he prepares the food for it days before. A slavish belly calculates on what dishes it will feast, but the servant of God considers with what graces he may be enriched. A visitor arriving, he is moved to be hospitable entirely out of gluttony, and he judges laxity for himself as a comforting of his brother. In the presence of others, he thinks it right to allow himself wine, and thinking that he conceals his virtue he becomes a slave of passion. Often vainglory is an adversary of gluttony, and they fight among themselves for the wretched monk as for a purchased slave. The one drives him to relax, the other suggests that he should lead about his virtue in triumph. The wise monk flees both, at the right time shaking off the one by the other. Saint John Climacus, from Step 14, The Ladder

Freedom And Slavery

Unusquisque in ea vocatione, in qua vocatus est, in ipsa permaneat. Hoc firmat, quod supra dixit. 'Servus vocatus es. Non sit tibi curae: sed  et si potes liber fieri, magis utere.' Hortatur ut bene serviens de Dei timore carnali domino, dignum se faciat libertate, ne audiens forte: Servus vocatus es? Non tibi sit curae;' negligentior esset circa bonos actus carnalis domini, et doctrina Christi blasphemaretur, et nec ille Deum prometetur, qui in his terrenis bene serviens, meritum sibi collocat apud Deum: quia dixit Dominus: Qui in minimo fidelis est, et in magno.' Qui enim in Domino vocatus est servus, liberatus est Domini. Ereptus enim a peccatis, quae vere servos probant, libertus fit; hic enim omnino servus est, qui imprudenter agit, sicut et veteribus placuit, qui omnes sapientes liberos appelarunt, imprudentes autem omnes servos. Unde et Saloman: Servo, inquit, sapienti liberi servient. Hic ergo qui credit, etsi servus sit ad tempus, quia rem facit prudentem, ut credat in Christum, libertus fit Domini. Si ergo peccata servos faciunt, sicut Cham filius Noe peccati et imprudentiae causa factus est servus; cum quis accipit remissionem peccatorum, libertus efficitur. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Corinthios Primam, Caput VII Source: Migne PL 17.220c-d

'Each one in the vocation in which he is called, let him remain.' 1 Here he confirms that which he said above, 'You are called and a slave? Let it not worry you; but if you can make yourself free, better it would be.' 2 He exhorts that by serving well a carnal lord in the fear of God, a man will be made worthy to gain his freedom, lest perhaps hearing, 'Are you are a slave? Let it not worry you,' there be neglect for good deeds for a carnal lord and the teaching of Christ be blasphemed, and he not merit God, he who serving well in worldly things will be with merit gathered to God, because the Lord said, 'He who is faithful in the least of things, is so in the greatest.' 3 For he who is a slave and has been called to the Lord is freed in the Lord. 4   For seized from sin, which truly proves one a slave, he is made free. For he is an utter slave, who acts imprudently, as it pleased the men of old to name everyone wise a free man and all the foolish slaves. Whence Solomon says, 'Free born sons will be servants of the wise servant.' 5 He, then, who believes, even if he be a slave for a time, because he acts prudently, believing in Christ, is made free in the Lord. If therefore sins make slaves, so Ham the son of Noah, by reason of sin and imprudence, was made a slave, and when someone receives forgiveness for sin, he is liberated Ambrosiaster, from the Commentary On The First Epistle of Saint Paul To The Corinthians, Chapter 7 1 1 Cor 7.20-21 2 1 Cor 7.21 3 Lk 16.10 4 1 Cor 7.22 5 Sirach 10.28

The Bread Of Idleness

Στεγναὶ διατριβαὶ οἴκων αὐτῆς σῖτα δὲ ὀκνηρὰ οὐκ ἔφαγεν.  Σῖτα ὀκνηρὰ, τὰ ὀκνοποιοῦντα τυχεῖν τῆς βασιλείας τοὺς ἀπλουστέρους καὶ ἀφελεστέρους, ἡ εὐγνώμων καὶ θεοφιλὴς ψυχὴ οὐκ ἐσθίει, οὔτε μὴν τούτων γεύεται, εἰ τάχα τύχοι αὐτῶν ἐπιθυμῆσαι· τὰς κακίας γάρ φησι σῖτα ὀκνηρά. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας Source: Migne PG 17.252b

She watches the ways of her house and she has not eaten the bread of idleness. 1 Idle bread is the kingdom of indolence of the more foolish and inept, which the faithful and pious soul does not eat; it does not even taste it, unless perhaps we may say that 'a taste' is when the desire for it comes upon us, for evils he speaks as idle bread. Origen, On Proverbs, Fragment 1 Prov 31.27

Guarding And Watching

Ἴσως ἀγνοεῖς, ἀδελφὲ, ὅτι ὁ νόμος τοῦ Θεοῦ τηρούμενος, τηρεῖν, καὶ φρουρεῖν, καὶ περισκέπειν πέφυκεν τοὺς τηρεῖν τοῦτον, καὶ φυλάττειν σὺν νήψει σπουδάζοντας. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΝΖ' Θεογνωστος Source: Migne PG 79 148a

Perhaps you are ignorant, my brother, of the keeping of the law of God, that to keep is to protect, and to watch over those who keep it, and to guard it in a state of alert sobriety. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 157 To Theognostos

Base Speech

Περὶ αἰσχρολογίας.   Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί.   Πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν, ἀλλ' εἴ τις ἀγαθὸς πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τῆς χρείας, ἵνα δῷ χάριν τοῖς ἀκούουσιν. Αἰσχρότης καὶ μωρολογία, ἢ εὐτραπελία, τὰ μὴ ἀνήκοντα, μηδὲ ὀνομαζέσθωσαν ἐν ὑμῖν, καθὼς πρέπει ἁγίοις.   Αἰσχρολογία μὴ ἐξερχέσθω ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν.  Ἡ τῶν λόγων συνήθεια ὁδός ἐστιν ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα. Διὸ πάσῃ φυλακῇ τὴν ψυχὴν τηρητέον, μὴ διὰ τῆς τῶν λόγων ἡδονῆς παραδεξάμενοί τι, λάθωμεν τῶν χειρόνων, ὥσπερ καταδηλητήρια μετὰ τοῦ μέλιτος προσιέμενοι. Κακοῦ μελέτη χρόνῳ βεβαιωθεῖσα δυσίατός ἐστιν, ἢ καὶ παντελῶς εἰς φύσιν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ τοῦ ἔθους μεθισταμένου. Κηρῷ τὰ ὦτα φράσσε πρὸς φαύλους λόγους, Ὠδῶν τε τερπνῶν ἐκμελῆ λυγίσματα. Αἰσχροὶ καὶ εἰκαῖοι, οἱ ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις εὐφυΐαν ἀνεπιδεικνύντες, βραδεῖς μὲν ὄντες τὰ καλὰ παιδεύεσθαι, τὰ δὲ ἐναντία μανθάνειν ὀξύτατοι καὶ προχειρότατοι. Αἰσχρολογίας αὐτοῖς τε ἡμῖν παντελῶς ἀφεκτέον, καὶ τοὺς χρωμένους αὐτῇ ἐπιστομιστέον, καὶ ὄψει δριμυτέρᾳ, καὶ προσώπου ἀποστροφῇ, καὶ τῷ ἀπομυκτηρισμῷ καλουμένῳ, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ λόγῳ θρασυτέρῳ. Τὸ ἐν τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ἀτακτεῖν, μελέτην ἐμποιεῖ τοῦ καὶ εἰς τὰ ἔργα ἀκοσμεῖν. Πάντη ἀφεκτέον αἰσχρῶν ἀκουσμάτων καὶ θεαμάτων· πολὺ δὲ πλέον ἔργων αἰσχρῶν καθαρευτέον. Ὁδὸς ἐπ' ἀναισχυντίαν ἡ αἰσχρολογία, καὶ τέλος ἀμφοῖν ἡ αἰσχρουργία. Κίνδυνον φέρει πολλάκις τὸ δυσφήμους λόγους ἀκούειν. Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Δαμασκηνός, Τὰ Ιἐρα Παραλληλα, Στοικειον Α' , Τιτλ ΜϚ.  Source:Migne PG 95 1254c-1256a

Concerning Base Speech Depraved speech corrupts good morals. 1   Let not a wicked word proceed from your mouth, but if it is something good for edification, let it be given for the edification of those who hear. 2 Baseness and foolish speech, and scurrilous talk, which pertains to nothing, let it not be spoken among you, as befits the holy. 3 Let not base speech come out of your mouth. 4 It is the way of words to lead to deeds, whence the soul must be guarded most diligently, lest being somewhat carried away by the pleasure of speaking we are forgetful of evils, not marking our own hands mixing together poison and honey. 5 A passion for evil is fortified by duration; and inevitably, as many things do, by custom it passes into a man's nature. 5 Seal up your ears with wax to base words and to the sweet sound of songs. 6 Base and mindless they are who in vain things evince a sort of cleverness, and when to things sublime you direct them are sluggish, though to doing base things they are swift, and most keen to display it. 7 One should not only abstain from obscene words but also silence those who use them, and even at the sight of their gaze avert your face, so often will you be preserved even from the speech of the most reckless. 8 Immodesty in words does this, that next we are carried to repulsive deeds. 8 Immediately we must abstain from hearing of baseness and from obscene sights, that much more surely we will not be stained by wicked deeds. The way to disgrace is through obscene words, and the end of both is obscene works. 8   The hearing of base words is often a bearer of peril. 9   Saint John of Damascus, Sacred Parallels, Part 1, Chap 46 1 1 Cor 15.33 2 Ephes 5.4 3 Ephes 5.4 4. Colos 3.8 5. Basil Homily to Youths 6 Greg Naz Tetras 17 7. Philo 8 Clem Paed, 2 6 9 Didymus

Angels And Announcements

Quid est quod dicit: Et audivi vocem viri inter Ulai, et clamavit, et ait: Gabrihel, fac intelligere istam visionem? quis ille est qui Gabrieli praecepit, ut Danielem faciat intelligere visionem? Judaei Michaelem autumant. Et cur vocatur Gabrihel, ut intelligere faciat, et non alius vocatur angelus? Quia cum visio de praeliis erat, regumque certaminibus, immo regnorum successionibus, dignum erat ut Gabrihel, qui praepositus est praeliis, huic officio manciparetur.   Quare tempore quo erat Dominus nasciturus, ad Zachariam et ad Mariam Gabrihel missus est, et non alius angelus? Quia, ut dictum est, praeliis est praepositus, indicturus bellum daemonibus, et triumphaturus de mundo venit. Petrus Archidiaconus  Liber De Diversis Quaestiunculis  Source:  Migne 96 1356

What is this that is said: And I heard the voice of a man between the Ulai gates And it called out and said, 'Gabriel, give understanding to this vision. 1 Who is it that commands Gabriel that he give understanding to the vision of Daniel? The Jews say it is Michael. And why is Gabriel called, that he give understanding, and not some other angel? Because the vision was about war, and the strife of kingdoms, and the successions of kingdoms, and rightly was it Gabriel, he who is first placed in struggles, who was given this office. Why in the time when the Lord was to be born was Gabriel send to Zachariah and Mary and not some other angel? Because, as said, he is first placed in struggles, and he came to declare the war against devils and the triumph over the world. Peter of Pisa, The Book of Diverse Questions 1 Dan 8.16

Mary And The Word

Εἰποῦσα δὲ ἡ παναγία Παρθένος· Ἰδοὺ ἡ δούλη Κυρίου, γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου· τοῦτο ἐδήλεωσεν· Πίναξ εἰμὶ, φησὶν, γραφόμενος ὃ βούλεται ὁ γραφεύς. Γραφέτω, ποιείτω ὃ θέλει ὁ τοῦ παντὸς Κύριος. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος, Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Λούκαν Εὐάγγελιον, Ἐκλογή Source: Migne PG 27.1302c

The all holy Virgin saying, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word,' 1 by this declared: 'I am a tablet, let be written what the writer wishes. Let it be written, let it be done as the Lord of all wishes.' Saint Athanasius, Fragment on Luke 1 Lk 1.38

Humility And Favour

Ecce, inquit, ancilla Domini, contingat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Vide humilitatem, vide devotionem. Ancillam se dicit Domini, quae mater eligitur: nec repentino exaltata promisso est. Simul dicendo, nullam sibi praerogativam tantae gratiae vindicavit, quae faceret quod juberetur. Mitem enim humilemque paritura, humilitatem debuit etiam ipsa praeferre. Ecce, inquit, ancilla Domini, contingat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Habes obsequium, vides votum, Ecce enim ancilla Domini, apparatus officii est: contingat mihi secundum verbum tuum, conceptus est voti. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber II Source: Migne PL 15.1558d-1559a

Behold, she said, the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word. 1 Observe the humility and devotion. She names herself the handmaid of the Lord who is chosen as a mother, not suddenly being exalted by the promise. When it is said, she boasts not of the prerogative of such grace, she who did what she was bid. Meek and humble she was who was to give birth, her humility it was that gave her favour. 'Behold,' she says, 'the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.' You have the deference, you observe the vow, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord,' she is prepared for the office, and 'Be it done to me according to your word,' she receives the promise. Saint Ambrose, from the Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 2 1 Lk 1.36

Son Of The Handmaid

Ὦ Κύριε, ἐγὼ ὁ δοῦλος σὸς, ἐγὼ δοῦλὸς σὸς καὶ υἱὸς τῆς παιδίσκης σου. Διέῥῥηξας τοὺς δεσμούς μου. Υἱὸν παιδίσκης φησὶν ἐαυτὸν, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Δεσμοὺς δὲ οἷς σειραἶς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτημάτων κατεσφίγγετο. Ἐλευθερωθεὶς δὲ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ υἱὸς τῆς σῆς παιδίσκης γινόμενος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῶν προτέρον ἀνέθην ἁμαρτημάτων διὰ τῆς σῆς χάριτος. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους ψαλμους, ψαλμος ΡΙΕ' Source:  Migne PG 23.1360d-1361a

O Lord, I am your servant, I am your servant and son of your handmaid. You have broken my chains. 1 He calls himself the son of a handmaid, that is, of the Church. And the chains by which he was bound were the sins that constrained him. But freed from sin, he is made the son of the handmaid, that is, the Church, liberated from old sins by grace. Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 115 1 Ps 115.16

A Mother's Teaching

Καὶ μὴ ἀπώσῃ θεσμοὺς μητρός σου Τὴν μητέρα ἐπάγεσθαι προστάσει, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ σοφία γεννῶσα, ἡ μὲν κατὰ Θεόν· καίτοι ἐρχῆν αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν τὸν πατέρα· οὗτος γὰρ πρὸς τὸ συνεῖναι τῷ υἱῷ μᾶλλον ἐπιτηδειότερος· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐ δυνατὸν, αὐτὸν γνῶναι τὸν Θεὸν πρὸ τῆς τῶν γεγονότων θεωρίας, τούτου χάριν τὴν μητέρα καὶ οὐ τὸν πατέρα προστάσσει ἐπάγεσθαι· ἵνα διὰ τῆς μητρὸς ὁ υἱὸς ἴδῃ τὸν πατέρα· ἐὰν γὰρ αὑτὴ μὴ γεννήσῃ, οὐ βλέπει τὸ φῶς, ὅπερ ἐστι γνῶσις αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας, Κεφ Ϛ' Source: Migne PG 17.185a

And forsake not your mother's teaching. 1 He commands that he has a mother with him, which is the wisdom that brings forth according to God. And this befits rather than a father, for this is more fitting for the understanding of the child, since he is unable to know God before beholding things which are; therefore he is commanded to have with him the mother rather than the father, that through the mother the son might know the father. For unless she has given birth to him, he does not see the light, which is to say, the knowledge of God. Origen, On Proverbs, Chap 6, Fragment 1 Prov 6.20

Troubles And Comforts

Venerando Patri Cudrado presbytero Alcuinus diaconus salutem. Valde sanctorum locorum ingemisco vastationem; sed vestrae fidei laetificor constantia, Deique omnipotens collaudens clementiam, qui tibi inter manus paganorum pepercit, ideo firma fide in quo cepisti proposito premaneas: confidens tu in misericordia Dei, ut te suae pietatis clementia conservet, ubicunque fraterno consilio te habitare velit Deus. Tamen sive in loco habitationis singularis, sive in fraterna cohorte, solitariam conversationem et secretas orationes, et jejuniorum propositum diligenter observa; quia non qui coeperit, sed qui perseveraverit, etc. Meque, obsecro, in sanctis tuis orationibus habeto memorialiter, sicut Buitta mihi ex tuis verbis fideli relatione promisit: visitantesque te fratres consolatione sancti Spiritus diligenter admone, exhortans eos, ut in Dei confidant protectione, et intercessione sancti Cudberchti Patris nostri. Non in armorum strepitu, vel in ruitura lapidum congerie, sed in muro pietatis supernae spem sibi certae defensionis constituant; et praesentis tribulationis miseriam ad aeternae felicitatis beatitudinem transferant: toto se corde convertant ad Dominum, et si quid in moribus suis emendandum sit, non segniter corrigant, ut Deo illorum placeat conversio, sicut Ninivitarum ei placuit poenitentia, et pepercit civitati per lacrymas confitentium peccata sua. Clemens est Deus et misericors, et nullum derelinquit in se sperantem; nam et novissima Job fuerunt meliora prioribus; sic et vobis credo faciat, si ad ejus clementiam deprecandam unanimiter conversi fueritis. Alcuinus, Epistola , Ad Cudradum, Epistola V Source: Migne PL 100.144c-145c

To the venerable father Cudradus, Alcuin the deacon, greetings. I lamented gravely over the destruction of the holy places, but I rejoice over the constancy of your faith, praising the clemency of God, that has spared you from the hands of pagans, and that therefore you remain with firm faith in the intention you began, being confident in the mercy of God, that the mercy of His piety protects you, and God wishes you to dwell wherever there is fraternal counsel. However, whether you dwell alone in some place, or among a group of brothers, diligently observe solitary communion and secret prayers, and the course of fasting, because it is not he who begins but he who perseveres who conquers. 1 And have memory of me, I beg, in your holy prayers, as Buitta promised me, relaying your words faithfully, and exhort the brothers visiting you in the consolation of the Holy Spirit, that they should have confidence in the protection of God, and in the intercession of Cuthbert our father. Not in the clash of arms, nor in the falling of stones heaped up, but in the wall of supernal piety is established the hope of one's defence in struggles, thus shall the wretchedness of present troubles be transformed into the blessing of eternal happiness, with all the heart turned toward the Lord, and if something in their lives needs improving, it will be corrected without sluggishness, that their way of their life please God, as even the penitence of the Ninevites pleased Him, and the confession of their sins in tears spared their city. God is compassionate and merciful, and He does not forsake any who hope in Him, for even the later days of Job where better that the earlier days, and so I think He will do so to you, if you all turn as one to praying for His mercy. Alcuin of York, Letter 5,To Cudradus 1 Mt 10.22

Counsel On Clothing

Rex Ninive purpura indutus propriae civitatis excidium meruit; coopertus sacco divini furoris motum contriti cordis humilitate placavit. Ezechias quoque cultu regio decoratus, terribiles regis Assyriorum minas tremefactus audivit; sed mox ut ipse cilicio tegitur, cilicioque contectos ad prophetam mittere nuntios non erubuit, propinquae divinae victoriae, et optatae prosperitatis oraculum reportavit. Quae nimirum promissio, Scriptura teste, celerem pervenit ad exitum. Nam ecce angelus Domini centum octoginta quinque millia Assyriorum una nocte percussit, deinde ipsum Sennacherib regem uterque filius parricidali quidem, sed digno gladio trucidavit. Vides igitur apud Deum quantum vestis fluxa distet ab aspera. Perpendis, quia quem iratum experiri delicta meruerat, vilis et abjecta vestis judicem placat; et quem plectibilem illa reddiderat, venia dignum ista commendat. Cujus autem momenti apud Deum vestium sit ornatus, egregius ille prophetarum Isaias evidenter ostendit, qui nimirum ad divinae jussionis imperium vestimenta deposuit, et per trium annorum spatium nudus, et discalceatus incessit. Erubescat igitur humana superbia, confundatur mens misera vanae gloriae peste corrupta, dum ille videlicet organum Dei, templum Spiritus sancti, divinae justitiae propalator, non dubitavit publice nudus in cenere. Et infelix homo, qui ne ullum quidem meruit divinae familiaritatis indicium, superstitiosum laciniosae vestis affectat ornatum; et dum male coloratae vestis fucos induitur, lubricus aspici a semetipso, superni Speculatoris oculos non veretur averti. Ita sane dum indumentum illud arrogantiae sub divina aestimatione despicitur, is etiam qui induitur, consequenter abominabilis judicatur. Sanctus Peter Damianus, De Contemptu Saeculi, Caput XVI Source: Migne PL 145.268c-269a

The King of Nineveh bedecked in purple imperiled his own city to ruin; covered in sackcloth, by the motion of a contrite and humble heart, he placated the Divine anger. 1 Hezekiah also, when adorned in the regal raiment heard the fearsome threats of the terrible Assyrian king, but soon, placing on himself a hairshirt, and sending to the Prophet messengers also covered with hairshirts, he was not disgraced, but the oracle announced that the Divine victory was near and the prosperity that was longed for. Indeed Scripture gives witness how quickly from the promise comes the ruin. For behold, an angel of the Lord in one night struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand Assyrians, and then Sennacherib himself by his sons was slain by the worthy sword. 2 See, therefore, how greatly garments may distance oneself from the bitter flood. Consider that he who has merited anger on account of evil done may propitiate judgement with vile and abject clothing, and him on whom punishment should have been brought, commends himself as one worthy of forgiveness. And of what importance to God may be the covering of vestments, Isaiah above all the prophets most openly shows, who by Divine command put off his vestments and for three years was naked and walked about shoeless. 3 Therefore let human pride blush, let the wretched mind infected with vainglory be confounded when he who was an organ of God, a temple of the Holy Spirit, a dispenser of Divine righteousness, did not hesitate to go about naked in public. Wretched is the man who has not deserved to give any token of familiarity with the Divine, but has the hems of his garments set with superstitious decorations, and while wickedly bedecked with coloured vestments, fears not to be seen as a deceiver, as if the eyes of heaven were averted from him. But indeed while he is wrapped in his vestments of arrogance the Divine judgement does look down on him, and certainly he who is clothed so will consequently be judged as one abominable. Saint Peter Damian, from On Contempt For The World, Chapter 16 1 Jonah 3 2 4 kings 18.28-19.37 3 Isaiah 20.1-3

A King And Confession

Rex. Multoties expertus sum et in orationibus et necessitalibus meis quod habeam gratiam Dei, sed nunquam novi retinere aut servare habitam, et qualiter hoc possem facere, pater, a tua sanctitate libenter audirem. Abbas. Duo sunt quorum alterum acquirit gratiam, alterum retinet acquisitam, pura confessio oris et operis satisfactio: quum enim peccator accedit ad sacerdotem vicarium Dei, et effundit cor suum quasi aquam in conspectu altissimi, quasi ovis ante pastorem, quasi aegrotus ante medicum, quasi reus ante judicem, ex quo accusare et per confessionem damnare se incipit, judex omnium peccatorem seipsum judicantem in gratiam suam recipit, amplectitur, osculatur et annulo suae caritatis insignit : hic est enim filius ille prodigus, qui portionem suam vivendo sumptuose consumpserat, quumque de siliquis porcorum quarum copiam habere non poterat, rediret ad patrem, vides quod a longo pater cucurrit ad filium et amplexatur est eum et cecidit super caput ejus. Quid putas cogitabat miser famelicus ille filius, dum nudus et afflictus tam pia circa se sentiebat viscera paternae dulcedinis ? Hanc dulcedinem experiuntur omnes qui in vera cordis contritione ad patrem misericordiam revertuntur. Quidam tamen sunt qui erubescunt confiteri peccata sua; quos Dominus erubescet in regno suo: timent fortasse ne sacerdotes detegant eorum iniquitates, aut ne ipsos in cordibus suis propter confessionem reputent viliores. Sane ibi trepidaverunt ubi non erat timor, secreta sua garrulis et infidelibus tota die committunt, et illos quos ordo, quos sacramentum facit Christi vicarios, erubescunt. Haec erubescentia non sanal sed inquinat: non justificat sed condemnat. Jus justificari habes hoc in potestate tua : dic tu iniquitates tuas ut justificeris. Verbum prophetae est Dixi, confitebor et renuisti. Rex. Video quandoque aliquem facere confessionem et poenitentiam recipere; postea vero gravius labitur et fuerunt novissima hominis ilhus pejora prioribus. Abbas. Fili, in isto et consimilibus deprehendere potes falsam confessionem et poenitentiam simulatam ; ut autem plenius intelligas de bono fructu poenitentise meis quaeso sermonibus, non solum aures corporis sed auditum cordis appone. Rex. Libenter audio et licet magna atque ardua negotia me expectunt, ego tamen admonitionibus tuis postponam. Abbas. Novisti, rex egregie, quod nos omnes in primis parentibus fuimus vulnerati : vulnera illa in baptismo sanata sunt, sed pcr insipientiam nostram cicatrices vulnerum illorum renovaverunt, superveniente putredine et corruptione peccati. Sicut David propheta dicit: Putruerunt et cor s. c. m. a. f. ins. m. Prima medicina fuit Baptismus, secunda est Poenitentia. De hac medicina dicit Salomon : Medicinam cavit Deus hominibus et stulti despiciunt eam : medicina Baptismi lenissima est, quia non exigit gemitum neque planctum. Baptismus enim est quasi quaedam pannorum levis ablutio. Sicut autem ferri rubigo non nisi cum igne et cum quadam malleatione deducitur, ita grave peccatum non nisi gravi poenitentia aboletur, violatio vero poenitentiae talis est ac si crus vel aliud membrorum prius fractum consolidetur, et ideo periculosius iterum frangitur secundo aut tertio quod prius fuit renovatum. Rex. Multi homines hujus temporis et maxime milites agere poenitentiam erubescunt coram aliis, quibusdam enim videtur quod hoc ex quadam hypocrisi aut ex cordis defectu et pusillanimitate procedat. Abbas. Heu mihi ! quam perniciosa et pessima est illis haec erubescentia, per quam amittitur et destruitur animae medicina. Summa est insania non erubescere de vulneribus et erubescere de vulnerum ligatura: vulnera nostra sunt sermones otiosi, detractores, verba dolosa, falsa proraissa, perjuria, maledicta, ira, invidia, odium, cupiditas, gulositas, avaritia, luxuria, superbia; vulnera etiam nostra sunt quod bonos viros offendimus, quod aliquando petentes a nobis graviter exasperamus, quod justitiam vendiramus et calumniatores recipimus et oppressores pauperum sustinemus, quod injustas preces frequenter audimus, quod nec ordinem ecclesiasticum nec religiosorum vitam debita et condigna reverentia honoramus, quod testamenta morientium, quod jura viventium, quod matrimonia virginum impendimus, quod desideramus mortem hominum, quod inter amicos seminamus discordias, quod res ecclesiasticas vel alio modo illicitas usurpamus: apponatur ergo medicina vulneribus nostris, ne, si putrescere permittantur, ea cum dolore maximo vel comburi oportat vel incidi. Petrus Blenensis, Dialogus Inter Regem Henricum II et Abbatem Bonaevallensem Source:  Migne PL 207.985b-987a

King: Many times I have tried in my prayer and necessities to have the grace of God but never do I know how to retain or guard what I have, and that I might be able to do this, father, I would eagerly hear from your holiness. Abbot: There are two different ways of possessing grace; one, to retain grace by a pure confession of the mouth and satisfactory works, wherein the sinner comes to the priestly representative of God and pours out his heart as water before the face of God, like a sheep before a shepherd, like a sick man before a physician, like a guilty man before a judge, by which accusation and condemnation of himself through confession, the judge of all, judging the sinner. receives him into his grace, embracing and kissing and distinuishing him with his own ring of love, for here indeed is the prodigal son, who having consumed his inheritance in luxurious living, unable to partake of the abundance of the swill of pigs, returned to his father, which father, you may see from afar, runs to his son and embraces him and falls upon his neck. 1 What do you think that wretched son thought while in servitude, while naked and afflicted, pondering in himself the depths of paternal piety? This sweetness all will experience who with a truthful heart turn in contrition to the Father of mercy. Certainly, however, there are those who are ashamed to confess their sins, and over them the Lord will ashamed in his kingdom. 2 Perhaps they fear lest the priests will disclose their iniquities, or that having confessed what is in their hearts they will be reputed vile. Certainly they have feared where there is no fear, 3 when every day they proclaim their secrets in chatter and breaches of trust, these who then blush before those of the order which the sacrament makes representatives of Christ. This shame does not heal but defiles, it does not justify but condemns. The right of justification you do have in your power: speak your iniquities that you be justified. The word of the prophet is: I said, I shall confess and you renewed. 4 King: Yet I see that after making confession and receiving penance, a man falls more heavily and the last state of the man is worse than the first. Abbot: O son, in this and similar things you may perceive false confession and dishonest penance, that however you have greater understanding of the fruit of pentience, I ask that you give to my own words not only your bodily ears but the hearing of your heart. King: Willingly I'll hear, and the great and weighty affairs that await me I will postpone for your instruction. Abbot: You know, admirable king, that we all were wounded in our first parents, and those wounds in baptism are healed, but by our foolishness the scabs of those wounds we renew again from which comes the putrescence and corruption of sin. As David the prophet says, 'My scabs have putrefied before the face of my unwisdom.' 5 The first medicine was baptism, the second is penance. Concerning this medicine Solomon says that God orders a medicine for men and fools despise it. The medicine of baptism is most gentle and neither groans nor weeping come from it. For basptism is as the light washing of cloth. But as rusted iron is not shaped without fire and a certain hammering, so grave sin is cleansed with heavy penance. However the violation of penance is such a thing as if a broken leg or some other limb were set badly, and therefore more dangerous it is when it is broken a second or third time than before it was reset. King: Many men of this time, especially in the army, are ashamed to do penance before others, which seems to spring from some hypocrisy, or defect of heart and timidity. Abbot: Alas, how perilous and most wretched are their blushes to them, by which the medicine of the soul is taken away from them and destroyed. It is the height of insanity not to blush over wounds and to be ashamed of the binding of wounds. Our wounds are profitless words, detraction, harmful speech, false candour, perjury, curses, anger, envy, hate, covertousness, gluttony, avarice, luxury, pride; and our wounds give offence to good men, that sometimes asking of us they are gravely exasperated that we would sell justice, and that we welcome caluminators and support the oppressors of the poor, that we frequently attend to unjust prayers, and we do not give the honour that is due and fitting to the religious and ecclesiastical life, that we would have profit from the wills of the dying, and the vows of the living and the marriages of the young, that we desire the death of men, that we sow discord among friends, that we usurp in this way or that the rights of the Church. Therefore this medicine is appointed for our wounds, lest, permitting them to become infected, these things to great grief we should burn up with or fall into. Peter of Blois, from a Dialogue Between King Henry the Second and the Abbot of Bonneval 1 Lk 15.11-32 2 Mk 8.38, Lk 9.26 3 Ps 13.5, 52.6  4 cf Ps 31.5 4 Ps 37.6

A Kingly Mortification

Et abiit rex in domum suam, et dormivit incoenatus... Quanta regis benevolentia, ut cibum nec die nec nocte caperet; somnum oculis non concederet: sed cum perielitante propheta ipse penderet affectu. Si autem rex nesciens Deum, hoc facit pro altero, quem vult de discrimine liberari: quanto magis nos pro peccatis propriis inedia et vigiliis debemus Deum ad clementiam flectere. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentaria in Daniel, Caput VI Source:  Migne PL 25.526a

And the king went away to his house, and slept without eating... 1 How great was the benevolence of the king, that he did not take food day or night, nor gave sleep to his eyes, but was oppressed while the Prophet was endangered. If even a king ignorant of God did this for another, for one whom he wished to be freed from peril, how much more should we fast for our own sins and take to vigils for God, that He be merciful to us. Saint Jerome, from the Commentary on Daniel, Chapter 6 1 Dan 6.8

A New People

Et in Osee dicit: Vocabo non plebem meam plebem meam et non misericordiam consecutam misericordiam consecutam et erit in loco ubi dictum est: Non plebs mea vos, ibi vocabuntur filii Dei vivi. Unde autem Hiberione qui numquam notitiam Dei habuerunt nisi idola et inmunda usque nunc semper coluerunt quomodo nuper facta est plebs Domini et filii Dei nuncupantur, filii Scottorum et filiae regulorum monachi et virgines Christi esse videntur? Et etiam una benedicta Scotta genetiva nobilis pulcherrima adulta erat, quam ego baptizavi; et post paucos dies una causa venit ad nos, insinuavit nobis responsum accepisse a nuntio Dei et monuit eam ut esset virgo Christi et ipsa Deo proximaret: Deo gratias, sexta ab hac die optime et avidissime arripuit illud quod etiam omnes virgines Dei ita hoc faciunt, non sponte patrum earum, sed et persecutiones patiuntur et improperia falsa a parentibus suis et nihilominus plus augetur numerus, et de genere nostro qui ibi nati sunt nescimus numerum eorum, praeter viduas et continentes. Sed ex illis maxime laborant quae servitio detinentur: usque ad terrores et minas assidue perferunt; sed Dominus gratiam dedit multis ex ancillis suis, nam etsi vetantur tamen fortiter imitantur. Sanctus Patricius Hibernorum Apostolus, Confessio Source: Migne PL 53.810a-b

Hosea says: 'I will call a people not mine my people; and she who has not obtained mercy, will obtain mercy, and in the place where it was said: You are not my people, there they will be called children of the living God.' 1 Whence how in Ireland which never had knowledge of God but to serve idols and unclean things always up to now, have they recently become the people of the Lord, and are called children of God, and the sons and daughters of the leaders of the Irish are seen to be monks and virgins of Christ? There was a blessed Irish lady of noble birth, a most beautiful woman, whom I baptised, and after a few days she came to me for one reason: she told me that she had received word from a messenger of God, who admonished her that she should become a virgin of Christ and that she should come near to God. Thanks be to God, six days later, enthusiastically and well, she took up that way which all the virgins of God do. And not by their fathers' will do they do this, for they suffer persecution from them and false accusations from their parents, and nevertheless the number of them grows, and we do not know the number of our people who were born there. Besides which, there are the widows and the celibates. But of all these, those held in slavery toil most, constantly enduring terror and threats, but the Lord gives grace to so many of His handmaids who serve him, for even if they are forbidden, they bravely follow. Saint Patrick Apostle of the Irish, from The Confessio 1 Hosea 2.23-24; 1.10

Virtue And Suffering

Μὴ λέγε κεκτῆσθαι ἀρετὴν ἐκτὸς θλίψεως· ἀδόκιμος γάρ ἐστι διὰ τὴν ἄνεσιν. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ  Source: Migne PG 65 913b

Do not say that you possess virtue without suffering, for at peace it is unproven. Saint Mark The Ascetic, On The Spiritual Law.

Repentance And Gratitude

Si tibi indulgentia Domini adcommodat, unde restituas quod amiseras, iterato beneficio gratus esto, necdum ampliato. Maius enim restituere quam dare, quoniam miserius est perdidisse quam omnino non accepisse. Verum non statim succidendus ac subruendus est animus desperatione, si secundae quis paenitentiae debitor fuerit. Pigeat sane peccare rursus, sed rursus paenitere non pigeat; pudeat iterum periclitari, sed iterum liberari neminem pudeat: iterandae valitudinis iteranda medicina est. Gratus in dominum extiteris, si quod tibi denuo offert, non recusaveris. Offendisti sed reconciliari adhuc potes: habes cui satisfacias et quidem volentem.  Id si dubitas, evolve quae spiritus ecclesiis dicat: desertam dilectionem Ephesiis inputat, stuprum et idolothytorum esum Thyatirenis exprobat, Sardos non plenorum operum incusat, Pergamenos docentes perversa reprehendit, Laudicenos divitiis fidentes obiurgat: et tamen omnes ad paenitentiam commonet, sub comminationibus quidem. Non comminaretur autem non paenitenti, si non ignosceret paenitenti, dubium, si non et alibi hanc clementiae suae profusionem demonstrasset: Non, ait, qui ceciderit, resurget et qui aversatus fuerit, convertetur? Ille est scilicet, ille qui misericordiam mavult quam sacrificia. Laetantur caeli et qui illic angeli paenitentia hominis; heus tu peccator, bono animo sis: vides ubi de tuo gaudeatur! Quid illa similitudinum dominicarum argumenta nobis volunt? Quod mulier dragmam perdit et requirit et repperit, amicas ad gaudium invitat, nonne restituti peccatoris exemplum est? Errat et una pastori ovicula, sed grex una carior non erat; una illa conquiritur, una pro omnibus desideratur, et tamen invenitur et humeris pastoris ipsius refertur: multum enim errando laboraverat. Illum etiam mitissimum patrem non tacebo qui prodigum filium revocat et post inopiam paenitentem libens suscipit, inmolans vitulum praeopimum convivio gaudium suum exornat: quidni? Filium enim invenerat quem amiserat, cariorem senserat quem lucri fecerat. Quis ille nobis intellegendus pater? Deus scilicet: tam pater nemo, tam pius nemo. Is ergo te filium suum, etsi acceptum ab eo prodegeris, etsi nudus redieris, recipiet quia redisti magisque de regressu tuo quam de alterius sobrietate laetabitur, sed si paeniteas ex animo, si famem tuam cum saturitate mercennariorum paternorum conpares, si porcos inmundum relinquas pecus, si patrem repetas vel offensum Deliqui dicens, pater, nec dignus ego iam vocari tuus. Tantum relevat confessio delictum quantum dissimulatio exaggerat; confessio enim satisfactionis consilium est, dissimulatio contumaciae.  Tertullianus, De Paenitentia, Caput VI-VII Source:  Migne PL 1.1241c-1243a

If the Lord's indulgence grants to you the means of restoring what you had lost, be thankful for the benefit renewed, not to say amplified. For to restore is greater than to give, as much as to have lost is more wretched than never to have received at all. Truly let not the spirit be immediately cut down and undermined by despair, if any incur the debt of second repentance. Certainly let it displease to sin again, but let it not to repent again; let it displease to imperil one's self again, but let it not shame anyone to be set free again; repeated sickness demands repeated medicine. You will show your gratitude to the Lord if what He offers to you again you do not refuse. You have offended, but you can yet be reconciled. You have Him whom you may satisfy and He is willing. If you doubt this, consider 'what the Spirit says to the churches.' He imputes to the Ephesians forsaken love; 1 reproaches the Thyatirenes with fornication and eating of things sacrificed to idols; 2 accuses the Sardians of works not full; 3 reproves the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; 4 rebukes the Laodiceans for trusting in wealth; 5 and yet gives them all general warnings to repentance, under threat, it is true, but He would not threaten the unrepentant if He did not forgive the repentant, which would be doubtful if He had not elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of His clemency. Does He not say, 'He who has fallen shall rise again, and he who has been turned away shall be turned back?' 6 He it is, indeed, who would have mercy rather than sacrifices. 7 The heavens and the angels who are there rejoice at man's repentance. 8 Listen, sinner, and be encouraged. See where there is joy concerning you. What is it that the Lord's parables wish to persuade us? A woman has lost a drachma, and she seeks it and she finds it, and she invites her female friends to share her joy; is this not an example of a restored sinner? 9 One little ewe of the shepherd strays but the flock was not more dear than the one; that one is most diligently sought; that one is longed for instead of all, and when she is found, she is carried back on the shoulders of the shepherd himself, for she had exerted herself much in her straying. 10 That most gentle father, likewise, I will not pass over in silence, who calls his prodigal son home and willingly receives him repentant after his poverty, slaying his best fatted calf and adorning his joy with a banquet. Why not? He found the son he had lost, he had felt him dearer who he had regained. Who is that father to be understood by us to be? God, surely; no one is so truly a Father, no one so pious. He, then, will receive you back, His own son, even if you have wasted what you received from Him, even if you return naked, receiving you because have returned, and He will delight more over your return than over the sensible conduct of other, but only if you truly repent, if you compare your own hunger with the plenty of your Father's hired servants, if you leave behind the pigs, the unclean herd, if you again seek your Father, offended though He be, saying, 'I have sinned, nor am I now worthy to be called yours.' 11 As much as confession relieves sin, so much dissimulation increases it; for confession is counseled by the wish to make satisfaction, dissimulation by contumacy. Tertullian, from On  Repentance, Chapter 6-7 1 Apoc 2.4 2 Apoc 2.20 3 Apoc 3.2 4 Apoc 2. 14-15 5 Apoc 3.17 6 Jerem 8.4 7 Hosea 6.6 8 Lk 15.7 9 Lk 15.8-10 10 Lk 15.3-7 11 Lk 15.11-32

A Woman Unspared

Λοιδορήσασα Μαριὰμ τὸν Μεωσέα, ἐλεπρώθη, ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς γενομένη ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας καθίσασα. Τοῦτο δὲ γέγονε πρὸς φόβον τοῦ λαοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ τῆς ἀδελφῆς οὐκ ἐφείσατο, οὐδὲ ἑτέρου. Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Τους Ἀριθμους, Κεφ ΙΒ'  Source: Migne PG 17.21a

Because she abused Moses Mariam was afflicted with leprosy and placed outside the camp for seven days. 1 And this was done that the people fear. For if a sister would not be spared, nor would another. Origen, On Numbers, Chapter 12 1. Numb 12.1-15

Harmful Physicians

Ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐστε ἰατροὶ ἄδικοι, καὶ ἰαταὶ κακῶν πάντες. Ἄδικος δὲ ἰατρός ἐστι, κατὰ τὸ πρόχειρον, ὁ ἄλλα βοηθήματα παρὰ τὰ συμφέροντα προσάγων τοῖς κάμνουσι· διττῶς δὲ τοῦτο γίνεται, ἤ ἐξ ἀπειρίας τοῦ ἰατροῦ, ἤ ἐκ κακοηθείας. Οὗτοι δὲ οἱ ἐλεγχόμενοι, ἐξ ἀμαθίας μὰλλον ἤ ἐκ κακουργίας, ἔλεγον τῷ Ἰὼβ, ὅτι δι' ἁμαρτήματα πάσχεις, οἰόμενοι παρακλήσεως προσάγειν λόγους. Ἄδικοι οὖν κατὰ τὸ ἀγνοεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν. Τὸ δὲ, Ἰαταὶ κακῶν πάντες, εἴη ἄν λέγων, κατὰ τῶν οἰομένων μεγάλα περὶ ἑαυτῶν, ὡς δυναμένων ἰάσασθαι τὰ περιστατικῶς ἑτέροις συμβαίνοντα. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εκλογαι Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ, Κεφ ΙΓ' Source: Migne PG 39.1148c-d

You are harmful physicians, and all practitioners of evil... 1   Wicked is the physician who for aid to the afflicted brings things which do not benefit, and this may come about by two ways, either due to the lack of skill of the physician, or by his inclination to wickedness. The first of these who are reproved are more ignorant than malicious, who tell Job that he suffers  because of sin, thinking these words would be comforting. Thus they were harmful because they were ignorant of the cause. But as for the 'all practitioners of evil,' it may be he speaks of those who because of the greatness of their thoughts concerning themselves think that they are capable of healing the blows that have come upon others. Didymus the Blind, On Job, fragment 1 Job 13.4

Sin And Correction

Beatus homo qui corripitur a Domino. Prima virtus est, ne pepetrari debeant, vitare peccata; secunda autem, saltem perpetrata corrigere. Sed plerumque culpas non solum imminentes minime vitamus, verum etiam nec commissas agnoscimus. Et peccatorum mens tanto altius tenebrescit, quanto nec damnum sua ceacitatis intelligit. Unde fit plerumque divine muneris largitate, ut culpam poena subsequatur, et flagella oculos delinquentis aperiant, quos inter vitia securitas caecabat. Torpens quippe animus percussione tangitur, ut exitetur; quatenus qui statum suae rectitudinis securus perdidit, afflictus consideret quo jacet. Hinc itaque ipsa asperitas correptionis origo fit luminis. Unde et per Paulum dicitur: Omne quod arguitur, a lumine manifestatur, argumentum enim salutis est vis doloris. Hinc est enim quod Salomon ait: Curatio cessare faciet peccata maxima. Hinc iterum dicit: Quem enim diligit Dominus, castigat: flagellat autem omnem filium quem recipit. Hinc voce angelica Dominus ad Joannem loquitur, dicens: Ego quos amo, redarguo et castigo. Hinc Paulus ait: Omnis autem disciplina in praesenti quidem non videtur esse gaudii, sed moeroris; postea autem fructum pacatissimum exercitatis per eam reddit justitiae. Quamvis ergo convenire simul nequeant dolor et beatitudo, recte tamen nunc dicitur, Beatus homo qui corripitur a Domino; quia per hoc, quod peccator dolore correptionis permitur, quandoque ad beatitudinem, quae sine interventu est doloris, eruditur. Sequitur:  'Increpationem ergo Domini ne reprobes.' Quisquis pro culpa percutitur, sed in querela suae percussionis elevatur, increpationem Domini reprobat, quia hanc injuste se perpeti accusat. Qui autem non pro purgatione criminis, sed pro fortitudinis probatione feruntur, cum causas suae percussionis inquirunt, nequaquam increptionem Domini reprobare dicendi sunt, quia in semetipsis satagunt invenire quod nesciunt. Unde et beatus Job ad libertatis verba inter percussionis verbera erumpens, tanto de se rectius judicia ferientis interrogat, quanto in semetipso verius causas passionis ignorat. Eliphaz itaque, quia hunc percussum non probationis examine, sed purgationis aestimavit, dum libere inter flagella loqueretur, reprobasse Dei increpationem credidit. Quem apte etiam haereticorum tenere speciem diximus, qui omne quod sancta Ecclesia recte agitur, apud judicium suum semper ad vitium tortitudinis inflectunt. Quia vero bona intentione ad loquendum ducitur, sed non curat discernere cui loquatur, adhuc supernae dispensationis moderamina praeicando subjungit, dicens: Qui ipse vulnerat, et medetur; percutit, et manus ejus sanabunt. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Moralia, sive Expositio in Job,  Liber VI Caput XXIII-XXIV  751b-752b Source: Migne PL 75.751b-752b

Blessed the man whom the Lord corrects. 1  The highest virtue is to avoid sins, that they should not be committed, and second to it is at least to correct what has been committed. But for the most part we not only hardly ever avoid sins that threaten but we do not even know them when they have been committed. And the mind of sinners is darkened so deeply, as much as they do not see the injury of their own blindness. Hence it happens that very often, by the largess of the Divine gift, that punishment follows upon fault, and blows open the eyes of the one who errs, who among errors had been secure in blindness. For the torpid soul is touched with a blow, that it be stimulated, that he who has lost, by his security, the state of uprightness, being afflicted may consider why he is thrown down. Thus the very sharpness of the correction becomes the source of light. So it is said by Paul: 'But all things that are proved are made manifest by the light' 2; for proof of salvation is in the force of the pain. Hence Solomon says, 'For healing will make grave sins cease.' 3 And again he says, 'For whom the Lord loves He corrects, He chastises the son whom he receives.' 4 Hence by the voice of the angel the Lord speaks to John, saying, 'Those whom I love, I rebuke and chasten.' 5 Hence Paul says, 'No discipline in the present seems to be joyful, but grievous, yet after it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness for those who are thus exercised ' 6  Although, therefore, grief and happiness can never meet together, yet it is rightly said here, 'Blessed is the man whom the Lord corrects.'  1 For by this, that the sinner is pressed with the pain of correction, he is sometimes educated to blessedness, which knows no interruption of suffering. It follows:   'Therefore do not reprove the chastening of the Lord.' 1   Whoever is struck for a fault and is lifted up to complaining against the blow, 'reproves the chastening of the Lord.' For he accuses Him, that He has done this to him unjustly. Yet they who are struck not for the cleansing of sin but for the testing of their fortitude, when they enquire about the causes of the blow, must by no means be said to reprove the correction of the Lord, for their aim is to discover in themselves what they do not know. Hence blessed Job, breaking out into the voice of liberty, amid the blows of his suffering, the more rightly questions the judgments of Him who brings this on him, the more he is truly ignorant of the causes of his suffering in himself. Thus Eliphaz, as much as he judged that Job was visited not with the trial of testing but of cleansing, when he spoke with freedom amidst the stripes, he thought that he reproved the correction of the Lord. And aptly we have said that this one bears the likeness of heretics, in that whatever is done rightly by the Holy Church is always by their own judgment bent to some fault of crookedness. But since it is with a good intention that Job is led to speak, yet he cares not to discriminate to whom he is speaking, he yet further adds and proclaims the dispensations of the supernal governance, saying,'For He wounds and He heals, He strikes and His hands restore.' 7 Saint Gregory the Great, Moralia, or Commentary on Job, Bk 6 Chaps 23-24 1 Job 5.17 2 Ephes 6.13 3 Eccle 10.4 4 Hebr 12.6 5 Apoc 3.19 6 Heb. 12.11 7 Job 5.18

Prostitutes And Heretics

Μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί μέλι γὰρ ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης ἣ πρὸς καιρὸν λιπαίνει σὸν φάρυγγα...  Στωμυλεύονται γὰρ αἴτε πρόδηλοι πόρναι, καὶ αἰ τῶν ἑτεροδόξων διδασκαλίαι, ἀπατῶσαι διὰ τῆς χρηστολογίας τὰς τῶν ἀκάκων καρδίας· μεγίστη οὖν ἀσφάλεια τὸ μὴ ἀλῶναι τὴν ἀρχήν· ἀλόντα γὰρ, δὺσκολον διαφυγεῖν. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας  Source: Migne PG 17.173a

Give no heed to a deceitful woman, for honey drips from the lips of a public courtesan, or at the appropriate time she anoints your throat with oil...1 For as the public courtesans chatter, so are the teachers of heresy, who by golden speech deceive the hearts of the guileless. Of great importance then it is that one is not caught at the beginning, for once one is made a captive, it is difficult to escape. Origen, On Proverbs, Fragment 1 Prov 5.3 LXX

A Prostitute Transformed

Ῥαὰβ πλατυσμὸς ἑρμηνεύεται, ἡ γὰρ τὸ πρῶτον πόρνη, νῦν δὲ σώφρων Ἐκκλησία διὰ τῆς πίστεως πλατύνεται ταῖς θεωρίαις, καὶ τοῖς θείοις νοήμασιν. Διὰ τοῦτο Κορινθίοις γράφει ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος· Μὴ στενοχωρεῖσθε· μᾶλλον δὲ πλατύνθητε, καθάπερ οὖν ἡ ἐμη καρία πεπλάτυται.  Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΝΓ' Πλουτινῳ Ὑπατικῳ  Source: Migne PG 79.105d

Rahab translated means broadening, for she who was first a prostitute is now the prudent Church, by faith being broadened with insight, and even with Divine understanding. On account of this the great Apostle writes to the Corinthians: Do not grieve, rather be broadened, as even my heart has been broadened. 1 Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 53,To Plutinos The Consul 1 cf 2 Cor 6.11-13

Trial By Prostitute

Ἄλλοτε πάλιν παριόντος τοῦ Ἐφραὶμ, ἐξ ὑποβολῆς τινος ἔρχεται μία ἑταιρὶς κολακεύειν αὐτὸν εἰς αἰσχρὰν μίξιν, εἰ δὲ μὴ, κἂν εἰς ἀγανάκτησιν κινῆσαι αὐτὸν, ὅτι οὐδέποτε τις εἶδεν αὐτὸν ὀργιζόμενον. Καὶ λέγει πρὸς αὐτήν· Ἀκολούθει μοι· πλησιάσας δὲ τόπῳ πολυοχλουμένῳ, εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Ἐν τῷ τοπῳ τούτῳ δεῦρο καθὼς ἠθέλνσας. Ἐκείνη δὲ θεασαμένη τὸν ὄχλον, λέγει αὐτῷ· Πῶς δυνάμεθα τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, τοσούτου ὄχλου ἑστῶτος, καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνόμεθα; Ὁ δὲ λέγει πρὸς αὐτήν· Εἰ ἀνθρώπους αἰσχυνόμεθα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὀφείλομεν αἰσχύνεσθαι τὸν Θεὸν, τὸν τὰ κρυπτὰ τοῦ σκότους ἐλέγχοντα. Ἡ δὲ ἐντραπεῖσα ἀπῆλθεν ἄπρακτος. Ἄποφθέγματα των Αγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Ελενουπόλεως Source: Migne PG 65.168c-d

Another time, when Ephrem was travelling, a prostitute tried by flattery to lead him to shameful intercourse, and if not that, at least to move him to anger, for no one had ever seen him angry. He said to her, 'Follow me,' and when they had reached a place where there were many people, he said to her, 'In this place, come, do what you wish.' But she, seeing the crowd, said to him, 'How can we do this in the presence of such a crowd and not be ashamed?' He said to her, 'If we are ashamed before men, how much more should we be before God, who knows what is hidden in darkness?' And abashed she went away without having achieved anything. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia